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Thucydides · History of the Peloponnesian War §8.7.1

Spartan order to transport allied ships to Chios

Passage 815 of 917 · Greek

Summary

With the coming of spring, urged by the Chians who feared Athenian discovery, the Lacedaemonians sent three envoys to Corinth to order thirty-nine allied ships to be dragged across the Isthmus and sail to Chios.

§8.7.1ἅμα δὲ τῷ ἦρι τοῦ ἐπιγιγνομένου θέρους εὐθὺς ἐπειγομένων τῶν Χίων ἀποστεῖλαι τὰς ναῦς καὶ δεδιότων μὴ οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι τὰ πρασσόμενα αἴσθωνται (πάντες γὰρ κρύφα αὐτῶν ἐπρεσβεύοντο), ἀποπέμπουσιν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι ἐς Κόρινθον ἄνδρας Σπαρτιάτας τρεῖς, ὅπως ἀπὸ τῆς ἑτέρας θαλάσσης ὡς τάχιστα ἐπὶ τὴν πρὸς Ἀθήνας ὑπερενεγκόντες τὰς ναῦς τὸν Ἰσθμὸν κελεύσωσι πλεῖν ἐς Χίον πάσας, καὶ ἃς ὁ Ἆγις παρεσκεύαζεν ἐς τὴν Λέσβον καὶ τὰς ἄλλας· ἦσαν δὲ αἱ ξύμπασαι τῶν ξυμμαχίδων νῆες αὐτόθι μιᾶς δέουσαι τεσσαράκοντα.
Immediately with the spring of the following summer, as the Chians were urging them to dispatch the ships and were afraid lest the Athenians should discover what was being done (for they were all negotiating secretly without their knowledge), the Lacedaemonians dispatched three Spartan men to Corinth, in order that they might drag the ships across the Isthmus from the other sea to that facing Athens as quickly as possible, and order them all to sail to Chios, both those which Agis was preparing for Lesbos and the others; and the total number of the allied ships there was thirty-nine.

Notes

  1. 8.7.1τοῦ ἐπιγιγνομένου θέρους — In the phrase 'the following summer', the genitive θέρους reflects Thucydides' practice of calling the entire military campaigning season (from spring to autumn) 'summer' (θέρος). Thus, 'spring' (ἦρι) marks the beginning of this summer.
  2. 8.7.1κρύφα αὐτῶν — The pronoun αὐτῶν refers to 'the Athenians' (οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι) mentioned previously. The adverb κρύφα ('secretly', 'without the knowledge of') takes a genitive object.
  3. 8.7.1μιᾶς δέουσαι τεσσαράκοντα — Literally 'lacking one of forty', meaning thirty-nine ships. The participle δέουσαι (from δέω, 'to lack') is feminine plural nominative, agreeing with the subject νῆες.

Cite this passage

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War §8.7.1. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0003.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.7.1

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